1 Scrap the away goals rule and penalty shoot-outs in two-legged games
"If the scores are level after 120 minutes (irrespective of which team have scored the more away goals) then the away side in the second leg should advance because, over the course of the tie, they have played an extra 30 minutes away from home. A penalty shoot-out does at least, in theory, reward footballing ability (unlike the away goals rule) but it remains an unsatisfactory diversion from the real game."
Surely the knowledge that you will advance if the scores are level purely because you are the away side will have the exact effect he's complining about here? That is to encourage negative play...
2 Use goal difference before head-to-head records
I personally prefer the head to head argument as it does at least represent a fair idea of who is the better team...if Team A beats a minnow 10-0 and Team B beats same minnow 7-0, does that really show which is the better team? If Team B had beaten Team A 2-0 then surely it's insane to say that Team A are better?
3 Introduce “celebration time” and remove punishments
2 words...the 2nd is 'off'
4 Book players for ANY dissent
Totally with him on this one...I hate the way refs are constantly harassed by players...yes they make mistakes and players have a right to be annoyed, but frankly it's just tough. They act like spoilt kids, so treat em like it.
5 Scrap the rule that forces injured players to leave the pitch after receiving treatment before re-entering the field
Ah the lovely golf carts at USA 94...how we laughed and how we all predicted it wouldn't make a difference...and how smug we all are now.
6 If a player falls to the ground and stays down apparently injured for, say, three seconds, the referee should stop the game immediately
So long as the 'player is booked for feigning injury' rule were enforced rigourously, this would be good. Of course, good luck to the ref in correctly ascertaining who's genuine or not...and I'm sure the players and managers will support him in his decisions...chinny reckon!
7 Players must retreat ten yards at a free kick within five seconds
Agreed. The common theme running through a lot of these ideas is basically the players should show a lot more respect to the laws of the game...but this won't happen til someone in authority has the backbone to stand up to the players / managers / club owners etc. Reality would suggest that it is they who are in charge of the way football is run as it is they who only have to stamp their feet to get their way. And while money talks and the Premier League is so keen to protect its 'product', this state of affairs will persist.
8 Dismiss goalkeepers for encroachment at a penalty
This may seem harsh, but again it's a law of the game...and once again a law that is rarely enforced...imagine the outcry if this happened...it'd be perfectly legal to do so, but you can guarantee the manager would be apoplectic, their defence being that 'no-one ever gets penalised for it and everyone else does it'.
9 Suspensions for an accumulation of non-bookable fouls conceded
Nice idea, but who will be counting?
10 Scrap offside
"The over-riding problem is that in a typical game there will be at least three or four incorrect offside calls"
3 or 4 incidents over 90 mins? Well let's just scrap fouls too as there are quite a few of those that get missed too!
Extrapolating, let's legalise murder, cos hey, quite a few cases are never solved...
Here's a kerazeee idea...with all this talk of goal line technology etc, why not use technology to solve the offside problem. It could easily be done. A small transmitter on each player and one inside the ball (they've already experimented with microphones inside it and it'd be balanced before use) could feed info to a computer which could track positions and calculate where everyone was at any given moment...easy!
And if the players don't like it, nail it to their heads and send em off for any dissent!
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